Coriander spinach, African restaurants in Upper Egypt, etc.

Tonight I made sauteed spinach with crushed coriander seeds, a dish that D and El discovered in an African restaurant in upper Egypt, on their recent visit here. That revelation occurred on the only one of the *three* trips to Luxor that launched from my Salamlek pad, in the last six weeks in which I *didn’t* participate. Cat and I actually visited that same restaurant on a subsequent trip, but the spinach dish was not on offer.

I had been fasting since sunrise in solidarity with the Zimbawe hunger strike, so was slightly delirious while cooking. The smell of the fresh ground coriander seeds is intoxicating, surprisingly lemony . I couldn’t keep my nose out of the pestle. The restaurant from which we got the inspiration is called Oasis and is on the East Bank kind of around the corner, (off the corniche) from the Mercure hotel.
BUT the better African restaurant, for food, price and view is the Africa Restaurant, which is on a rooftop (with view of the Nile) on the West Bank. It’s in the little village of Gezira, on what would have to be called the main drag (i.e., it’s the only drag.) Here’s Cat enjoying the way too ample spread: